#roman the thief

[mo-mode]

Okay but Percy being a super fast swimmer cuz he controls the water, but his form is so fucking wrong. He never really tried in his swimming lessons as a kid so he never learned how to stay afloat on his own and keep his head above water. He never learned how to move both his arms and legs so he doesn’t get too tired. I wanna see Percy just fucking doggy paddle out of that river. It’s so important to me.

[laurentarzan]

Feeling extra thankful for MWT and the queen's thief today 😌❤️

[number-onekidqueen]

Try not to cry impossible edition 😭😭

[i-dreamed-i-had-a-son]

“because he never accepts that it's never been about righteousness--it's about repentance.” except javert killing himself IS repentance.

well, it’s like 12 different things, because bro had gone days without sleeping and very little food and water and he already had low self-worth and kept asking the amis to kill him and just assumed he was going to die AND THEN valjean upended his understanding of the world and morality. he was really going through it & there are a lot of overlapping reasons for why he jumps into the seine.

but javert is like Number One Most Responsible guy in the whole story. taking responsibility is his Thing (forever bitter the musical doesn’t include the punish me monsieur le maire scene). how else, in his derailment, could he atone for his conceived misdeeds other than by handing in his resignation to god? in the brick he had already left a note urging his superiors to treat convicts at toulon better, which is another step in his repentance (and another crime the musical commits by not including it). jumping into the seine was another step.

honestly a lot of ppl who like the book think the musical was dead wrong to exclude him from the big heaven group sing, because it COMPLETELY undermines the themes of forgiveness and compassion threaded throughout les mis. like the musical was simply wrong lol.

This is helpful context! I am still finishing the brick, although I have fully read the abridged version, and that detail about the letter wasn't included, so I didn't know that occurred! (And thank you for the message--this is a long response but I'd love to hear more of your thoughts!)

I agree that Javert is certainly deeply distraught and remorseful; like you mentioned, his worldview is literally falling apart, and his actions reflect his mental state. But his death isn't really repentance--in the sense that it's not what God would have wanted. To me it reads like a Judas situation: a desperate realization of a huge mistake, and doing the only thing you think can make it right, namely, ending it all. That's the just punishment for someone so wrong, isn't it?

But true repentance, meaning the repentance that the Lord desires, is about changing your ways, not "paying a price." Had Javert really understood the beauty of Valjean's mercy (an image of Christ's, just as the bishop's undeserved mercy was to Valjean himself), rather than killing himself, he would have lived to also become "an honest man"--in heart. One who could forgive and understand forgiveness, for himself as well as others. One who could recognize that he is not The Law, that he can fall, but that he can also be "brought to the light." One who could accept that men like Valjean, and men like himself, CAN change, and be changed.

It's tragic to me because so much of "Stars," and his character in the book as well as the musical, is about wanting to be righteous, to rise above his birth and the sinfulness he associates it with. It's about wanting to please the Lord by his actions. But in his end, he shows he never understood what God really wanted from him, and that's where my original phrase comes in: not righteousness, but repentance. To live, and face the man you were, knowing it's no longer the man you are. That it's never been about what you've done or can do, but about what's been done for you. That's the Gospel that he could never fully accept.

To use another example you mentioned, that misunderstanding drives why he asks the Mayor (Valjean) to punish him--in his worldview, mercy is unjust, or at the very least, unfair. Evil must be punished; "those who fall like Lucifer fell" receive "the sword." But "as it is written," God "desires mercy, not sacrifice" (Matthew 9:13). God would have wanted Javert to live, and Javert couldn't see that, and that's why it's devastating to me. In his misunderstanding of the heart of God, he misses what would have set him free from the chains of sin he's always been trying to escape.

That's why he's contrasted with Valjean, who (though he carries guilt about his past till the end of his life) is eventually able to face it and confess what he had done to those he loves. He knew there was mercy to be found, if only it was asked for. Javert was too blinded by pride and shame to realize it, and so, while broken, he never was able to truly repent.

For that, you must go on.

[justagray]

I remember Sally can't be a demigod because she couldn't get through the barrier to camp half-blood, but what if she's a legacy of a Roman god/ goddess instead? Like her parents were demigods making her mortal but still have roman blood.

[voltttmeter]

🎙️

[fredbydawn]

I know I’ve said something like this before, but yet again thinking of Tim Roth’s character in The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, particularly the scene where the older, richer, and more powerful man who’s kinda maybe into him and is trying to make him more sophisticated so he’s being forced to eat oysters to the point where he’s pale, sweating, hiccuping, fully throwing up… yeah

[disaster-catalyst]

the parallels in the percy jackson series is insane because we started the season where at the first episode Grover—Percy's first friend and first to make him feel seen and welcome in his school, literally brightening up his life—ends up having to betray him for his own safety

to the last episode where Luke—the first person who made Percy feel truly welcome at camp, to the point he brought him up when praying to his mother—ends up as the person that the prophecy warned him about

"you will be betrayed by the one who calls you friend"

it started and ended with betrayal

which hurts more when you remember percy's fatal flaw is personal loyalty

[literatureandtrees]

distant cousins

[screenshotsonpinterest]

I picked up the lightening thief in 2014 because the boy I had a crush on really liked Percy Jackson and I swear to god I have not stopped thinking about it since

[softlysilverfountainsfall]

Sejanus, who was, of course, the prefect of the praetorian guard and one of the Roman emperor Tiberius' most trusted people...until he was executed for conspiring against Tiberius.

And then in The King of Attolia, Sejanus, Eugenides Attolis' attendant, conspired to kill him.

Coincidence? I think not.

[explorerrowan]

So, in honor of AO3 going live again, and in recognition of @magicalgirlmindcrank being bold enough to post her very good story publicly, I'm going to post my own fics where people may peruse at their leisure. (Links aren't embedding right for some reason? Sorry)

L'Art et L'Artifice

When giant plant aliens invade in the middle of a heist, Geneviève Diamant, aka the infamous thief La Grenouille, finds herself caught in the act.

Rhapsody in Green

Millie has lived in an isolated life-pod her entire life. She is treated little better than an unintelligent AI by most humans, and is currently serving as a science vessel's navigation computer. What happens when the one human that treats her like a person turns her and the rest of the ship over to the giant plant aliens?

These are both set in the Human Domestication Guide setting, where giant, benevolent, plant aliens conquer humanity for their own good and make the belligerent ones into happy adorable pets.

Read the original story by GlitchyRobo here, and more stuff can be found on the wiki here.

[its-a-show-stoppin-number]

me: i don’t think i have a type when it comes to celebrity crushes

these mfs:

[mspaintmankai]

Congrats to Trump The Phantom Thief!

[apocalypse-alpaca]

"i see you as you see yourself through all the books you read" okay well THAT one hit hard

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

Pitch for a HBO adaptation of “Uncharted” (you know, in case the movie franchise gets shelved and the execs want another Naughty Dog franchise after the success of “The Last of Us”):

1) Showrunner: Jonathan E. Steinberg (co-creator of Black Sails)

2) Brett Dalton as Nathan Drake

3) Teresa Palmer as Elena Fisher

4) Stephen Lang as Victor Sullivan (I know he did the live-action short, but he’s legitimately who I feel would be best in the role)

5) Pedro Pascal as Atoq Navarro

6) Mark Strong as Gabriel Roman

7) Bill Hader as Sam Drake (cameo appearance in season 1 in order to set the show up for the 4th game/season)

8) 9 episodes, same as “The Last of Us”